TC 


UC-NRLF 


THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 
OF  CALIFORNIA 


PRESENTED  BY 

PROF.  CHARLES  A.  KOFOID  AND 
MRS.  PRUDENCE  W.  KOFOID 


Story  of  the  New  York 
State  Canals      i 


FRANK  M.  WILLIAMS 

Engineer 
Surveyor 


State  Engineer  and 


ALBANY 

J.  B.  LYON  COMPANY,  PRINTERS 
1916 


\ 


THE  STORY  OF  THE  NEW  YORK  STATE  CANALS 


"GOVERNOR  DEWITT  CLINTON'S  DREAM" 

"As  a  bond  of  union  between  the  Atlantic  and  Western  states,  it 
may  prevent  the  dismemberment  of  the  American  Empire.  As  an 
organ  of  communication  between  the  Hudson,  the  Mississippi,  the 
St.  Lawrence,  the  Great  Lakes  of  the  north  and  west  and  their 
tributary  rivers,  it  will  create  the  greatest  inland  trade  ever  witnessed. 
The  most  fertile  and  extensive  regions  of  America  will  avail  them- 
selves of  its  facilities  for  a  market.  All  their  surplus  productions, 
whether  of  the  soil,  the  forest,  the  mines,  or  the  water,  their  fabrics 
of  art  and  their  supplies  of  foreign  commodities,  will  concentrate 
in  the  city  of  New  York,  for  transportation  abroad  or  consumption  at 
home.  Agriculture,  manufactures,  commerce,  trade,  navigation,  and 
the  arts  will  receive  a  correspondent  encouragement.  The  city  will, 
in  the  course  of  time,  become  the  granary  of  the  world,  the  emporium 
of  commerce,  the  seat  of  manufactures,  the  focus  of  great  moneyed 
operations,  and  the  concentrating  point  of  vast,  disposable,  and 
accumulating  capitals,  which  will  stimulate,  enliven,  extend  and 
reward  the  exertions  of  human  labor  and  ingenuity,  in  all  their 
processes  and  exhibitions.  And  before  the  revolution  of  a  _  century, 
the  whole  island  of  Manhattan,  covered  with  inhabitants  and 
replenished  with  a  dense  population,  will  constitute  one  vast  city." 

WHEN  a  man  living  in  New  York  State,  about  a  hundred  years 
ago,  wished  to  travel  in  any  direction,  he  went  by  some  river  and 
lake  route  as  much  as  he  could,  riding  in  a  canoe  or  boat. 
Naturally  the  first  forts  were  built  on  waterways  so  that  they  would  be 
protected  from  the  enemy. 

There  were  few  roads,  and  these  were  bad,  and  in  early  spring  and 
rainy  weather  could  not  be  used.  Logs,  placed  across  the  road  in  low 
and  marshy  places,  formed  a  rough  and  bumpy  highway  called  a  corduroy 
road.  Plank  roads  were  the  best  that  existed.  It  was  much  pleasanter 
to  travel  by  water  and  to  carry  goods  that  way.  Few  people  lived  west  of 
the  Genesee  Valley,  not  because  there  was  any  lack  of  people  anxious  to 
live  there,  but  because  there  was  no  way  to  bring  their  products  to  a 
market  without  heavy  expense  and  great  risk. 

In  order  to  open  the  western  country  to  settlers,  and  to  offer  a  cheap 
and  safe  way  to  carry  their  produce  to  a  market,  improvements  in  the 
natural  waterways  were  made.  The  first  canal  locks  were  constructed  in 
1  796  at  Little  Falls  by  a  private  company  acting  under  a  charter  from 
the  State.  These  made  people  eager  for  Governor  DeWitt  Clinton's  plan 
for  the  state-owned  Erie  canal.  This  canal,  begun  in  1817,  was  laughed 
at  by  many  who  called  it  *'  Clinton's  Big  Ditch."  Governor  Clinton, 
however,  forseeing  its  great  use  to  the  State,  called  it  '*  The  Grand 
Canal."  The  route  of  this  waterway  had  been  gone  over  and  approved 
by  President  Washington,  himself  an  engineer  and  surveyor. 

[Page  Three]  ^ 


[Page  Four] 


The  Erie  canal  was  opened  October  25,  1825.  It  was  4  feet  deep 
and  about  42  feet  wide  and  could  float  a  boat  carrying  30  tons  of  freight. 
The  first  boat  to  travel  its  full  length  was  the  Seneca  Chief;  its  start  from 
Buffalo  was  announced  by  the  firing  of  a  cannon,  and  this  was  echoed  by 
the  booming  of  a  line  of  cannon  all  the  way  across  the  State  to  Albany 
and  down  the  Hudson  to  New  York  city.  The  Seneca  Chief  carried  two 
barrels  of  water  from  Lake  Erie,  which  Governor  Clinton  emptied  into 
the  ocean  at  New  York,  the  first  "  Marriage  of  Waters  "  between  the 
Great  Lakes  and  the  Atlantic  Ocean. 

The  Erie  proved  to  be  the  world's  greatest  canal. 

Its  effect  was  soon  felt,  not  only  through  the  State  but  throughout  the 
east  and  the  Great  Lakes  region.  Settlers  flocked  westward,  forests  gave 
way  to  sawmills  and  villages  replaced  these.  Prosperous  towns  were 
established  on  the  Great  Lakes  and  the  splendid  chain  of  cities,  which  has 
won  for  New  York  the  title  of  Empire  State,  sprang  up  along  the  line  of 
the  Erie  canal. 

The  shipping  which  once  went  to  Philadelphia,  the  nation's  biggest 
seaport  before  the  Erie  canal,  came  to  New  York;  the  city  grew  by  leaps 
and  bounds  and  became  the  commercial  center  of  the  American  Union. 
Sixteen  years  after  the  opening  of  the  canal,  the  exports  of  New  York 
were  valued  at  three  times  those  of  Massachusetts,  the  value  of  real  estate 
had  increased  more  rapidly  than  the  population,  while  personal  property 
was  nearly  four  times  its  former  value,  and  manufacturing  three  times  as 
great.  There  were  five  times  as  many  people  following  commercial  pur- 
suits in  New  York  as  there  were  before  the  completion  of  the  Erie  canal. 

Many  other  canals  were  built  after  people  saw  the  success  of  the  Erie, 
and  for  many  years  canals  formed  the  principal  trade  routes  in  the  State. 
However,  the  invention  of  the  steam  engine  and  the  building  of  railroads 
struck  them  a  severe  blow.  Some  of  them  failed  and  were  closed;  the 
Chenango  canal,  connecting  Utica  and  Binghamton,.  is  an  example  of  an 
abandoned  canal.  The  Erie  and  main  branches  of  the  canal  system  were 
enlarged  from  time  to  time  but  still  failed  to  hold  their  old  popularity ;  and 
yet  in  1 882  it  was  found  that  the  Erie  had  earned  forty-two  million 
dollars,  over  and  above  its  original  cost,  expense  of  enlargement,  main- 
tenance and  operation.  At  that  time  it  had  a  depth  of  7  feet  and  could 
float  a  boat  big  enough  to  carry  240  tons.  In  1903,  almost  ninety  years 
from  the  date  of  the  beginning  of  Clinton's  canal,  the  people  of  the  State 
decided  to  again  enlarge  the  canal  and  make  it  a  Barge  canal. 

The  Barge  canal  consists  of  four  branches;  the  Erie,  running  across 
the  State  from  Waterford  on  the  Hudson  river  to  Tonawanda,  where  the 
Niagara  river  is  entered  and  followed  to  Lake  Erie;  the  Champlain, 
running  northward  along  the  easterly  boundary  of  the  State  from  Water- 
ford  to  Whitehall  at  the  southern  end  of  Lake  Champlain;  the  Oswego, 
[Page  Five] 


Above:  First  canal  lock  in  New  York  State  built  at  Little  Falls  ( 1 796) ;  length  70  ft.,  width  1 0  ft. 
Below:  At  right,  three  locks  at  Waterford  after  first  enlargement  of  Erie  Canal;  length  of 
each  1 1 0  ft.,  width  of  each  1 9  ft.  At  left,  new  Barge  Canal  lock  replacing  three  locks 
at  right,  length  328  ft.,  width  45  ft. 

[Page  Six] 


branching  from  the  Erie  canal  north  of  Syracuse  and  running  northward 
to  Oswego  on  Lake  Ontario;  and  the  Cayuga-Seneca  canal,  leaving  the 
Erie  west  of  the  Oswego  junction  and  running  southward,  connecting  with 
the  two  large  lakes  from  which  it  takes  its  name.  The  enlargement  of 
this  last  canal  was  not  decided  upon  until  1909. 

The  Barge  canal  is  one  of  the  world's  greatest  feats  of  engineering.  It 
is  about  ten  times  as  long  as  the  Panama  canal  and  has  many  more 
engineering  works  and  some  of  the  most  notable  locks  in  the  world. 

The  old  canals  followed  what  is  called  a  **  land  line  "  which  means 
an  artificial  channel  constructed  by  means  of  excavations  and  embank- 
ments, avoiding  the  natural  streams  and  lakes  wherever  possible  so  as  to 
be  above  danger  of  flood.  The  new  system,  on  the  other  hand,  makes  use 
of  all  these  rivers  and  lakes,  whenever  practical ;  it  makes  them  into  a 
canal  ("canalizes  them")  by  the  building  of  dams,  locks,  and  other 
engineering  works  and  obtains  what  is  known  as  '*  slack  water  navigation." 
In  fact,  less  than  thirty  per  cent,  of  the  Barge  canal  is  built  in  "  land  line." 

There  will  be  446  miles  of  Barge  canals,  the  Erie  being  339  miles 
long,  the  Champlain  61,  the  Oswego  23,  and  the  Cayuga-Seneca  23 
miles  long.  Of  this  total,  400  miles  are  completed  and  the  most  of  it  will 
be  in  operation  during  the  present  year,  while  the  remainder  is  rapidly 
being  finished. 

The  dimensions  of  the  Barge  canal  vary  according  to  the  locality,  but 
at  all  places  it  will  be  at  least  1 2  feet  deep.  It  is  125  feet  wide  in  earth 
sections  of  the  land  line,  94  feet  wide  in  rock  cuts,  and  has  a  width  of  at 
least  200  feet  in  the  beds  of  rivers  and  lakes  through  which  it  runs. 

The  Champlain  canal  will  be  completed  in  1917  and  this  year  it  will 
be  so  near  completion  that  through  traffic  will  use  it  during  the  summer. 
The  Oswego  is  finished,  and  the  Erie  canal  will  be  finished  next  year  to 
the  point  where  it  meets  the  Oswego,  thereby  making  it  possible  to  carry 
goods  by  Barge  canal  between  Lake  Ontario  and  the  Hudson  river.  The 
Cayuga-Seneca  will  be  finished  this  summer  and  in  1 9 1 8  the  entire  canal 
will  be  completed  and  in  operation,  and  will  be  able  to  float  a  barge  of 
three  thousand  tons  capacity. 

All  the  locks  (there  are  57  in  the  Barge  canal)  are  built  of  concrete 
and  operated  by  electricity.  They  are  filled  with  water  and  emptied  by 
means  of  culverts,  one  in  each  of  the  side  walls,  opening  into  the  lock 
chamber  through  20  ports  or  openings  located  just  above  the  lock  floor. 
The  lock  gates  are  massive  steel  doors  swinging  on  steel  pivots.  Some  of 
these  lock  gates  weigh  more  than  200,000  pounds  each  and  are  of  the 
so-called  "  mitre  gate  "  type.  A  pair  of  gates  may  be  opened  or  closed 
in  about  30  seconds.  Their  operation,  as  well  as  the  operation  of  the 
valves  which  control  the  flow  of  water  in  the  feed  culverts,  the  operation 
of  the  power  capstans,  the  buffer  beams  and  all  other  lock  machinery  is 
[Page  Seven] 


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[Page  Eight] 


controlled  by  a  series  of  small  switches  collected  together  in  a  small 
controller  box  located  on  one  of  the  lock  walls. 

The  Barge  canal  locks  are  328  feet  long  and  45  feet  wide.  They  will 
lift  at  one  time  from  one  water  level  to  another  six  such  boats  as  are  at 
present  in  use  on  the  canals.  The  most  wonderful  of  these  locks  are  the 
five  at  Waterford,  near  Troy,  which  have  a  combined  lift  of  1 69  feet, 
the  greatest  series  of  high  lift  locks  in  the  world.  These  locks  cost  about 
one-quarter  of  a  million  dollars  each.  The  lock  at  Little  Falls  has  a  lift 
of  40J/2  feet;  this  is  remarkable  because  it  has  a  greater  lift  than  any 
lock  on  the  Panama  canal.  The  siphon  lock  at  Oswego  has  a  lift  of  25 
feet,  is  the  first  lock  of  this  type  to  be  built  in  the  United  States  and  the 
largest  of  its  type  in  the  world. 

Other  notable  structures  connected  with  the  Barge  canal  are : 

1 .  The  movable  dams.     These  dams,  unique  in  this  country,  retain  the 
waters  of  the  Mohawk  river  and  look  like  immense  truss  bridges,  heavy 
steel  gates  being  raised  and  lowered  to  govern  the  depth  of  water  in  the 
canalized  river  bed. 

2.  The  big  dams  at  Delta  and  Hinckley.     These  have  created  two 
lakes  of  about  5  square  miles  each,  and  store  up  water  that  is  to  be  let 
into  the  canal  channel  during  the  dry  summer  months  so  that  the  depth  of 
1 2  feet  can  be  maintained. 

3.  The  massive  steel  guard  gates  which  protect  the  various  locks  and 
other  works. 

4.  The  curved  fixed  dam  at  Crescent  which  is  located  just  above  the 
Waterford  locks. 

5.  The  300  new  bridges  which  carry  the  railroads  and  the  highways 
across  the  Barge  canal. 

6.  The   automatic  spillways  which  help  to  maintain   the  water  levels 
in  the  canal. 

7.  The  50-foot  Taintor  gates,  the  largest  in  the  world. 

8.  The-  power  houses  where  electrical  power  is  created  for  operating 
the  canal  structures. 

In  the  construction  of  the  Barge  canal  a  greater  variety  of  machinery 
has  been  used  than  ever  before  used  on  any  engineering  undertaking;  this 
machinery  represents  a  cost  of  about  $10,000,000. 

This  great  inland  canal  will  cost  $150,000,000  and  is  being  paid  for 
by  the  people  of  New  York  State  without  any  aid  from  the  United  States 
government. 

There  will  be  no  towpaths  on  the  new  canal  so  that  the  big  barges 
which  will  be  used  must  be  run  by  mechanical  means.  The  State  is  also 
building  Barge  canal  terminals  at  all  the  cities  and  important  towns  along 
the  different  channels.  These  will  be  provided  with  machinery  to  load 
and  unload  barges.  It  is  quite  certain  that  the  Barge  canal  will  serve  to 

[Page  Nine] 


[Page  Ten] 


attract  once  more  the  inland  shipping  that  once  passed  through  the  old 
canals  and  did  so  much  toward  making  New  York  the  Empire  State,  and 
New  York  city  the  greatest  metropolis  in  the  American  Union.  DeWitt 
Clinton's  dream  will  have  become  a  reality. 

LIST  OF  PROMINENT  FACTS 

A.  First  canal  locks  at  Little  Falls  in  1  796. 

B.  "  Clinton's  Big  Ditch,"  begun  181  7,  completed  in  1825. 

C.  What  the  Barge  canal  (1903)  consists  of: 

1 .  Erie  —  across  State  from  Water  ford  on  Hudson  to  Tonawanda. 

2.  Champlain  —  north   along   east  boundary   from   Waterford   to 

Whitehall. 

3.  Oswego  —  branching  from  Erie  north  of  Syracuse  and  running 

north  to  Oswego. 

4.  Cayuga-Seneca  —  leaving    Erie    west    of    Oswego    canal    and 

running  south  connecting  with  Lakes  Cayuga  and  Seneca. 

D.  Length  of  canals: 

1 .  Erie  —  339  miles. 

2.  Champlain  —  61  miles. 

3.  Oswego  —  23  miles. 

4.  Cayuga-Seneca  —  23  miles. 

5.  Total  —  446  miles. 

E.  Four  hundred  miles  now  complete. 

F.  Minimum  depth   12  feet. 

G.  Width: 

1 .  125  feet  in  earth  sections. 

2.  94  feet  in  rock  cuts. 

3.  200  feet  in  rivers  and  lakes. 
H.   Number  of  locks  — 57. 

I.  Construction  and  operation: 

1 .  Built  of  concrete. 

2.  Operated  by  electricity. 

3.  Lock  gates  opened  or  closed  in  30  seconds. 

4.  Uniform  length  of  locks  328  feet. 

5.  Width  of  locks  45  feet. 

6.  Lift  of  locks  varies  from  6  to  40  Y2  feet. 
J.   Notable  locks: 

1 .  Five  at  Waterford  —  combined  lift  of  1 69  feet. 

2.  One  at  Little  Falls  —  lift  of  40!/2  feet. 

3.  One  at  Oswego  —  lift  of  25  feet. 

a.  Siphon  lock. 

b.  First  in  United  States  —  largest  in  world. 

{Page  Eleven} 


I 

a 

1 


[Page  Twelve] 


K.  Notable  features: 

1 .  Movable  dams. 

2.  Dams  at  Delta  and  Hinckley. 

3.  Massive  steel  guard  gates. 

4.  Curved  fixed  dam  at  Crescent. 

5.  Three  hundred  railroad  and  highway  bridges. 

6.  Automatic  spillways. 

7.  Fifty-foot  Taintor  gates. 

8.  Power  houses. 

L.   Total  cost  150  million  dollars. 

M.   Total  cost  of  machinery  used  in  construction,  1 0  million  dollars. 

DEFINITIONS 

Slack  water  navigation.     Navigation  in  a  pool  of  water  created  by  a  dam. 

Earth  sections.  That  part  of  a  land  line  where  the  soil  is  chiefly  earth, 
and  little  rock  is  encountered. 

Tons  capacity.     The  maximum  number  of  tons  which  a  boat  can  carry. 

Feed  culverts.  The  hollow  spaces  or  tunnels  within  the  lock  walls 
through  which  the  water  for  filling  or  "  feeding  "•  the  locks  and  for  emptying 
them  is  carried. 

Mitre  gate  type.  A  pair  of  gates  which,  when  closed,  form  a  definite 
angle  at  the  point  of  junction. 

Power  capstans.  A  cleated  cylinder  revolving  around  a  spindle,  built  on 
the  lock  walls,  and  operated  by  electricity.  A  rope  fastened  to  a  barge  can 
be  thrown  around  the  capstan,  and  the  barge  can  thus  be  towed  into  a  lock. 

Buffer  beams.  A  steel  beam  resting  in  a  pocket  in  one  of  the  approach 
walls  to  a  lock,  and  swinging  on  a  pivot  to  meet  the  other  approach  wall  in 
front  of  the  lock  gates.  Buffer  beams  serve  as  protection  to  the  lock  gates. 

Controller  box.  A  steel  box  standing  on  a  lock  wall  containing  the 
switches  which,  when  operated,  open  and  close  the  lock  gates  and  the  valves 
in  the  "  feed  "  culverts. 

Lockage.  The  passage  of  a  boat  or  boats  through  a  lock.  The  raising 
or  lowering  of  a  boat  or  boats  from  one  water  level  to  another  water  level, 
by  means  of  a  lock. 

Siphon  lock.  A  lock  which  can  be  filled  and  emptied  by  means  of  a 
series  of  pipes  and  without  the  aid  of  any  mechanical  means. 

Movable  dams.  Dams  which  can  be  raised  or  lowered  so  as  to  keep  the 
water  in  canalized  streams  at  the  depth  which  is  necessary  for  navigation. 

Truss  bridge.  A  bridge  supported  by  a  truss.  A  truss  is  a  structure 
whose  members  are  collected  in  the  form  of  a  series  of  triangles  so  that  it 
cannot  be  weakened  unless  the  length  of  one  of  its  members  is  changed. 

Guard  gates.  Steel  gates  built  across  the  canal  channel,  usually  at  the 
head  of  a  series  of  locks,  so  that  in  case  of  accident  to  one  of  the  locks,  the 
gate  can  be  lowered  and  the  water  supply  shut  off. 

[Page  Thirteen] 


[Page  Fourteen] 


[Page   Fifteen} 


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